


Augustus

by LindseyTanner



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13329207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LindseyTanner/pseuds/LindseyTanner
Summary: Claire and her band of treasure hunters might have found the biggest pile of cash east of the Mississippi, but they have to dig up the right grave first, and this one just might be haunted by the ghost of a criminal...





	1. Augustus Chapter 1

“A hundred years ago, a serial killer was hanged right in this tree above you,” said the tour guide. The chilly graveyard was illuminated by the sunset filtering through the trees, and the gravestones cast long shadows over the golden ground.  A group of tourists surrounded a decrepit old stone, worn away with age and shunted into the ground at an awkward angle, and listened to the tour guide speak. 

“He was captured after a terrible struggle, in which at three good men were killed.  He’d terrorized the whole county, and they had no problem stringing him up; he never had any qualms about killing others.  He hung there for a week, his rotting corpse a feast for the birds.  We haven’t had any problems from murderers and the like since!”

            What about from treasure hunters? thought Claire. She was there with her younger brother for one reason only, although her sibling was under the impression that they were merely tourists in the old city. She lingered at the gravesite and let the small crowd move on before she addressed her brother.

            “Joey!”

            “Yes?” answered the ten year old.

            “Do you remember me telling you about my former career?”

            “You mean as a…” he dropped his voice to a conspiratory whisper, “treasure hunter?”

            “Yes. That’s why we’re here. I think there may be quite a valuable sum of money associated with this serial killer right here.” She tapped the ground with her foot. “We may have to dig up this guy’s coffin -- if he has one.”

~~~~~

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	2. Augustus Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and her band of treasure hunters might have found the biggest pile of cash east of the Mississippi, but they have to dig up the right grave first, and this one just might be haunted by the ghost of a criminal...

Part of what the old tour guide had said was true. There was an Augustus who lived in that area during that time period, but he didn’t restrict himself to that one county. He ran amok through the whole state. But not as Augustus. He’d taken on numerous aliases: Wyatt Johnson, Joe Colorado, Texas Lou. Augustus probably wasn’t his real name. Claire Saitō had done enough research on witness accounts to see through the disguises he wore. Augustus was a small man. All his impersonations were the same height, and the same size around.

He always did the same type of crime, too: get in, rob whatever bank, saloon, or general store he came to first, get out, and never hit the same town twice. And he’d hit a lot of them. Trouble was, nobody knew what he’d done with all the money. Sure he’d wasted away a pretty piece of it on fine liquor, fine dining, and fine women, but the way Claire had heard it, there was far too much money for him to have spent it all. That was why she suspected he’s arranged to have it buried with him. Not overtly, of course. But maybe a relative or lover of his came to the gravesite with a shovel and a bag of loot, and left with only the shovel.

Unless they’d taken it for themselves. But Augustus was a conniving, manipulative man, and Claire knew he could have talked someone into it. He didn’t want to leave without his reward for all his hard work. Claire was sure of it.

~~~~~

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	3. Augustus Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and her band of treasure hunters might have found the biggest pile of cash east of the Mississippi, but they have to dig up the right grave first, and this one just might be haunted by the ghost of a criminal...

Claire and Joey were visiting the old city alone. Usually, Claire had her team with her, and they shared the profits equally, but they all had other obligations to attend to. Joey lived with their parents, but a business trip had called them to Japan for the week, and Claire was the designated babysitter. She tried to talk Joey out of going with her to the gravesite and instead staying in the hotel room, but Joey was having none of it.

“I can handle scary stuff,” he said.

“This isn’t just ‘scary stuff’, kid,” said Claire. “Trespassing, disturbing the dead, all of this is illegal.”

“You’ll get in more trouble than me.”

“I guess so… but the corpse. You’re gonna see a dead body if we dig up the coffin. You really want to see that? Rotting flesh oozing off his face and maggots crawling all over him?”

“He’s a skeleton now.”

Joey was right. It had been a hundred years, and the coffin was most likely made of wood. That corpse-flesh would be long gone by then, and the bones picked clean.

“Fine.”

“Yes!”

 

~~~~~

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	4. Augustus Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and her band of treasure hunters might have found the biggest pile of cash east of the Mississippi, but they have to dig up the right grave first, and this one just might be haunted by the ghost of a criminal...

They went back to the graveyard that night armed with shovels, headlamps, flashlights, and spare batteries in their pockets. Joey’s gloves were a little too big for him, but Claire’s were molded to her hands from use. She’d made Joey retie his shoes before they left.

“Tighter,” she’d said. “If we’re caught and have to make a run for it, I will not have you falling out of your shoes.” Laces double-knotted, they headed into the graveyard.

Everything looks different at night, no matter where you are. Claire knew that. Your own room looks different in the sunrise than it does in the dim, blue light of your computer screen. That was how Claire viewed the fog and misty chill, and the dark shadows that moved behind the tombstones as they passed by. When an owl took flight from a tree overhead, flapping its wings and tearing into the leaves with its talons, Claire recognized it as only that: an owl, not an omen or a ghost. Joey, however, ducked with his shovel over his head and his arms and legs trembling. Claire went over to him.

“Open your eyes,” she said, and shook him by the shoulder. “It’s a birdie.”

“Big birdie.”

“Out hunting for mice. You’re not a mouse.” They continued on to the grave of Augustus.

 

~~~~~

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	5. Augustus Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and her band of treasure hunters might have found the biggest pile of cash east of the Mississippi, but they have to dig up the right grave first, and this one just might be haunted by the ghost of a criminal...

Claire clicked on her headlamp. She and her brother were deep enough into the cemetery that she wasn’t afraid of the light attracting attention. She shined it on the tombstone. That’s weird. The writing was gone. Oh, there it was: she was just look in at it from the wrong angle. The edges engraved letters cast shadows into themselves, doubling the words.

Augustus

1812-1848.

No last name listed, but it was the right date. Let’s dig.

She glanced around and stuck the shovel in the dirt. She chopped through thick grassroots until she reached the soft earth, and then she let Joey help. They hadn’t made it very far before a blast of freezing cold air whipped through the cemetery and smacked them in the face.

“Nor’eastern,” said Claire. “Common this time of year.”

They went back to digging. A few moments later, a howl sounded from somewhere behind them.

“Wolf,” Joey said.”

“Dog,” said Claire. “Maybe a poodle.”

They went back to digging, Joey much more hesitantly than Claire. She stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat off of her face and catch her breath. As she dragged her sleeve across her forehead, she looked up. There, in the tree, swung a noose.

~~~~~

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	6. Augustus Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and her band of treasure hunters might have found the biggest pile of cash east of the Mississippi, but they have to dig up the right grave first, and this one just might be haunted by the ghost of a criminal...

Claire froze and Joey looked up, and by the time Claire had identified the thing as a clump of moss, Joey was long gone, having dropped his shovel and ran, presumably all the way back to their hotel. Fine.

Claire would find him later. If she didn’t dig up this treasure that night, the mess they’d made would be discovered the next morning, and there would be video cameras, and possibly guards, around from then on.

Claire kept digging until she hit something solid. She found its outline: it was rectangular and hollow-sounding. A wooden coffin. Claire scraped the dirt off of the top and set to work prying the lid off. She’d expected to encounter more resistance, but the nails seemed to have rusted away, and she slid the lid off with ease.

 

~~~~~

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	7. Augustus Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire and her band of treasure hunters might have found the biggest pile of cash east of the Mississippi, but they have to dig up the right grave first, and this one just might be haunted by the ghost of a criminal...

She braced herself to see a rotting corpse, or a skeleton at least. But the box was empty. Completely empty, except for dust, bugs, animal droppings, and the dirt that seeped in through the cracks in the lid, and that she’d thrown in when she’d opened in.

Frustrated, she took the shovel and rammed it under the coffin to use it as a lever to pry it up. There was nothing underneath, either, as far as she could tell with her headlamp. She let the box fall with a thump and a crack from a breaking board and wondered if she should bother trying to clean up. It probably wasn’t the man’s real grave, anyway. It could have been a hoax; just a way for the city to make money off of graveyard tours.

She picked up both shovels and started back, but as she passed it, she glanced down at the lid of the coffin, which was turned on its back so the inside faced her.

There was something written on it. A message from the hangman? From a victim’s family? She knelt and leaned over it to see.

 

Better Luck Next Time,

Claire.

 

~~~~~

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End file.
